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SAN FRANCISCO - Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), a financial services giant with a market capitalization of $661.4 billion, on Tuesday introduced the Trusted Agent Protocol, a new framework designed to enable secure communication between AI shopping agents and merchants during transactions. According to InvestingPro data, Visa maintains an impressive 97.78% gross profit margin, demonstrating its operational efficiency in the payments space.
The protocol aims to address challenges in the rapidly growing field of AI-driven commerce, where software agents search, compare, and make purchases on behalf of consumers. According to data cited in Visa’s press release, AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites has surged over 4,700% in the past year. This innovation comes as Visa continues to demonstrate strong financial performance, with revenue growth of 11.38% and a return on equity of 53% in the last twelve months.
The new protocol, developed in collaboration with Cloudflare, helps merchants verify legitimate AI agents while distinguishing them from malicious bots. It includes specifications for agent intent verification, consumer recognition, and payment information handling.
"We believe the entire payments ecosystem has a responsibility to ensure sellers can trust AI agents as much as they trust their best customers and networks," said Jack Forestell, Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Visa.
Stephanie Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudflare, added that the protocol is "a vital step in building the necessary guardrails" for the emerging AI commerce ecosystem.
The protocol is designed to work with existing web infrastructure and requires minimal changes to merchant websites or checkout pages. It is available through the Visa Developer Center and GitHub.
Visa stated that while the initial specifications apply to its network, the company is working with global standards bodies like IETF, OpenID Foundation, and EMVCo to promote ecosystem-wide adoption. The company also mentioned collaborations with other partners including Adyen, Microsoft, Shopify, and Stripe to further develop the protocol.
The development comes as merchants face growing challenges with bot detection systems that may block legitimate AI transactions, supporting agent-driven checkout processes, and maintaining visibility into consumer data. Based on InvestingPro analysis, Visa currently trades near its Fair Value, and analysts have set a consensus high target of $430 for the stock. For deeper insights into Visa’s financial health and growth potential, investors can access the comprehensive Pro Research Report, available exclusively to InvestingPro subscribers, along with 10 additional ProTips about the company’s performance and outlook.
In other recent news, Visa announced adjustments to the conversion rates for its class B-1 and B-2 common stock following a $500 million deposit into its U.S. litigation escrow account. The conversion rate for class B-1 common stock decreased from 1.5609 to 1.5549, and for class B-2, it decreased from 1.5342 to 1.5223. Additionally, Erste Group downgraded Visa’s stock rating from Buy to Hold, citing limited growth opportunities in developed markets. Meanwhile, Bernstein reiterated its Outperform rating on Visa, maintaining a price target of $380.00, despite noting the company’s underperformance compared to the market.
In related developments, Fold Holdings announced a partnership with Stripe to power its upcoming Fold Bitcoin Credit Card on the Visa network, offering users rewards in bitcoin. The card will provide up to 3.5% back in bitcoin on purchases. In the digital asset space, KeyBanc Capital Markets identified Coinbase as well-positioned to benefit from stablecoin adoption, highlighting its agreement with Circle. These developments reflect ongoing strategic moves and market evaluations in the financial services and digital asset sectors.
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